Small browser firms are once again asking for Microsoft to show them some love. (Source: WebMD)

"We can't compete with the sort of money that the top guys have, so this choice screen is enormously important. And it's just enormously disappointing that it happened this way." -- Flock spokesman

Small browsers can only be found by scrolling sideways

Microsoft
has found itself having to alter its practices on several occasions
in Europe and the U.S. after regulators stepped in and forced change.
One of the most recent instances was when the European Commission
asked Microsoft to make browser selection more open and fair to other
browser makers in Europe.

Microsoft and the EC worked for
months to come to an agreement on how exactly Microsoft would go
about offering users of Windows a choice of other browsers rather
than simply bundling IE with its OS. The result was the browser
ballot box, or Browser Choice screen.

Microsoft's first ballot
box offer didn’t make it and eventually the Redmond,
Washington-based company offered to randomize the placement of
browsers within the choice screen. In December 2009, the EU was
reportedly set
to agree to the randomized ballot box. Eventually the
randomized choice screen was approved and Microsoft announced in
February that it would start rolling
the ballot screen out to users in Europe on March 1.

The
final form of the ballot box randomized the order of the major
browsers on the screen and left the five major offerings on the main
page, with other significantly smaller browsers available as options
if the user scrolled the screen to the side.

EWeek reports
that the rational behind making the ballot screen only show the five
major browser options was fear that offering 12 browsers on one
screen would be overwhelming and users would simply close the box and
stick with IE. Smaller browser firms whose products are not on
the main page are set to ask Microsoft to alter
the ballot box again to give their offerings more prominent
placement.

The six smaller browser firms making the request
include Maxthon, SlimBrowser, Avant Force, Flock, Sleipnir and
GreenBrowser. Representatives from these firms registered a formal
petition with the EC on March 3 that protested that their browsers
were only viewable if the user scrolled sideways.

The petition
stated, "It is clear that the final Choice Screen design leaves
the vast majority of users unaware that there are more than five
browsers to choose from. This is inconsistent with the EU
Commission's stated goal for the Choice Screen—to provide European
consumers with 'information on the 12 most widely used Web browsers
and to allow users to easily download and install one or more of
these Web browsers.'"

A spokesperson for Shawn Hardin,
CEO of Flock, stated, "The EC recommended that the seven browser
companies engage with Microsoft as a group, and if they can come to a
mutually agreed-upon solution, the EC will fully support it. Flock
CEO Shawn Hardin has reached out to Microsoft on behalf of the group
to schedule a meeting, and Microsoft responded that they 'will get
back to the group shortly.'"

The small browser firms
claim that how the browser screen is configured is a matter of
survival for them. Not being able to get prominent first page
placement for their browsers hurts the ability for the small firms to
compete according to the companies.

Hardin said, "We
can't compete with the sort of money that the top guys have, so this
choice screen is enormously important. And it's just enormously
disappointing that it happened this way."

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If you read the original post you were replying to, I never said anything about Microsoft caring about what you DO with the browser. So your comment didn't make much sense unless I assumed you meant that Microsoft didn't care if you use their browser.

As long as we are arguing stupid semantics, though, "using" the browser is "doing something" with the browser. So if Microsoft care that you use their browser, they do care what you do with it.

If you are saying, Microsoft doesn't care HOW you use their browser, I still don't agree. As I pointed out earlier, they want you to use their browser to use their services. This is why their browser directs to msn.com (homepage) and bing.com (search engine).

So you are still wrong. I'm not sure why you are so upset that I point out Microsoft made some decisions to improve their position in the market. I'd expect nothing less. And as I've stated elsewhere, I do not support this EU browser ballot BS.